This invention concerns a method for monitoring the operation of an internal combustion engine while it is in service.
Experience teaches that all the mechanical and thermal phenomena occurring in an internal combustion engine generate vibrations and this fact has been exploited in methods for detecting pinking or knocking. Such procedures in particular require that background noise which might mask an abnormal vibration be controlled or even eliminated by suitable processing of the signal. This is described in French patent FR No. 2 504 592. The main purpose of such methods is to detect the event on a pass/fail basis in view of undertaking the most immediate possible action to cancel it. These methods are generally implemented for engines whose load variations are frequent and rapid and they do not provide any statistical intelligence concerning engine life.